Category: stuff

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Blue is the colour

This week I was presenting at an online conference and though I usually use my iMac in-built microphone, for this event I was using a Microsoft Surface. I was asked if I had an external microphone I could use as the quality wasn’t very good with the in-built microphone. I do have an external Bluetooth headset I sometimes use for calls, but I have found it can be unreliable when I need it most. So I went to the garage and dug out my old external Blue Snowball USB microphone.

It certainly has a retro feel to it’s look and when I say retro I mean 1950s retro. I’ve had it for a fair few years, well over fifteen I think. It was called a Snowball as it was white ball, well over the years the white plastic and discoloured somewhat, so it is now a faded yellowish white colour. However it worked perfectly and the feedback I had was the quality was excellent.

Think I might start using it more.

If you want one, you can get one at Amazon.

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Ten Amazing Winter and Snow Backgrounds for Teams and Zoom

So you’re feeling all snug and warm in your home office, well why not add some wintery charm to your Teams and Zoom meetings with these amazing winter and snow backgrounds.

Right click the images to download the images.

trees in the snow
Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash
snowy lane
Photo by Ali Inay on Unsplash




Snow
Photo by Courtney Chestnut on Unsplash
frosty tree
Photo by Tim Tiedemann on Unsplash
snowy mountains
Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash
snow covered trees
Photo by Katarzyna Pe on Unsplash
winter
Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash
snowy mountains
Photo by Alberto Restifo on Unsplash
snowy lane with trees
Photo by TORSPOMEDIA on Unsplash
snowy pines
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
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Ten More Great Christmas Zoom and Teams Backgrounds

Time to get into the festive spirit in the last full week at work with these festive background for Zoom or Teams.

Last year I posted ten festive images, well here are ten new ones to get you and your meetings into a Christmas mood.

Right click the images to download the images.

tree decorations
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
Winter
Photo by Bob Canning on Unsplash
lights
Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay




Christmas Market
Image by Leonhard Niederwimmer from Pixabay
snowy pines
Image by Pezibear from Pixabay
bauble
Image by Mariya from Pixabay
Santa
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
festive decorations
Photo by Jamie Coupaud on Unsplash
dried decorations
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
santa
Image by Couleur from Pixabay
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Festive Zoom and Teams Backgrounds

Time to get into the festive spirit with one month until Christmas Day with these festive background for Zoom or Teams. As some of you are still probably working from home.

Right click the images to download the images.

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
Image by Vincent Ciro from Pixabay
Image by Yevhen Buzuk from Pixabay
Image by Reijo Telaranta from Pixabay
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay




Image by bluartpapelaria from Pixabay
Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash
Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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Mobile telephony

Thinking that would never catch on….

I actually remember seeing this when it was broadcast.

https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/1437438420867956738

Michael Rodd makes a call with an experimental cordless mobile phone.  It’s 1979 and time for the telephone to go mobile. In this report from a longer programme, Michael Rodd examines a British prototype for a cordless telephone that allows the user to make calls from anywhere. Also included at the end of this item is a rather nice out-take as Rodd also experiences the first mobile wrong number.

Of course we don’t really use our phones as phones these days, the mini computer we have in our pockets is now used for way more than just making calls.

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Typical

So there I was leaving Bristol after an evening out and Waze was sending me out of Bristol via Princes Street Bridge. As I turned onto Princes Street the warning lights went on and the barriers came down!

Princes Street Bridge

I had to wait.

Even though I know the way home to Weston-super-Mare from Bristol, I sometimes use Waze to get me out of Bristol, as it knows where there is traffic and it also gives me an idea of what time I will arrive home. 

Waze sent me down the M5 this time, the motorway southbound was quite clear, northbound it was a different picture with a ten mile tailback. Looked like there had been an accident on the Twickenham Viaduct, but the queue of traffic went back to the junction with Weston-super-Mare.

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Ten years of Snapseed

Can’t quite get my head around I have been using Snapseed for over ten years now…

This was my first use of Snapseed back in 2011 of Gloucestershire College.

Here is my most recent use of Snapseed in 2021. This is the old Grosvenor Hotel in Bristol.

I have written about Snapseed before. In 2018 I spoke about the app and showed of some of my photographs I had edited in Snapseed. There was an earlier post in 2012.

I was particularly pleased with the way this image of the Matthew at the Bristol Harbour Festival turned our, almost like an oil painting with the shadows and textures.

Matthew at Bristol Harbour Festival

My original thoughts from ten years ago were in this post.

Over the last few days I have been playing around with the Snapseed app for the iPad. 

This is a wonderful photograph editing app that I was told about by Mark Power on the Twitter, here is a live link to his image.

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So now we have flying cars… well nearly!

flyinf car

A prototype flying car has completed a 35-minute flight between international airports in Nitra and Bratislava, Slovakia reports the BBC.

The flying car has been a vision of the future for decades, along with the jetpack. Could this be the turning point and we start to see flying cars on our roads (and in the air) in the same way that we are now seeing electric vehicles?

Dr Stephen Wright, senior research fellow in avionics and aircraft, at the University of the West of England, described the AirCar as “the lovechild of a Bugatti Veyron and a Cesna 172”. Dr Wright said.

“Anyone can make an aeroplane but the trick is making one that flies and flies and flies for the thick end of a million hours, with a person on board, without having an incident.

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Making GTA more “realistic”

When I have a spare minute I quite like the odd game of Forza on the Xbox.

I have always thought the graphics were quite good (especially in HD)

However I have been blown away by this video of GTA which uses AI to make it more “realistic”.

Can it be too long before games look as good as real life?

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Ten Amazing Summer Zoom and Teams Backgrounds

Despite the easing of restrictions, think many of us will still be attending Zoom or Teams meetings over the next few months. So to get you in a summer mood here are ten amazing summer Zoom and Teams backgrounds to brighten your meetings.

Right click the images to download the images.

waves
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
Summer
Image by Larisa Koshkina from Pixabay
Sunflowers
Image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay
dunes
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
beach
Image by Sathish kumar Periyasamy from Pixabay
street
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay




forest
Image by Karsten Paulick from Pixabay
dandelions
Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay
cafe
Image by analogicus from Pixabay
wheat field
Image by Pexels from Pixabay